Officially less than 1 year...

Wow! Time is flying. We officially have less than one year to go. I couldn't be more thrilled. There is still so much to do, but we are slowly knocking those things off the to do list.

I really wanted to blog yesterday since it was the one year mark. But with working overtime and an amazing date night with Ned, there was just no time.

To celebrate our one year to go mark, we had a lovely dinner of amazing vegetarian and vegan sushi at Midori's. We then followed dinner up with the lovely sounds of Joshua Radin at the Pantages Theater.





Yesterday, I received an email from TheKnot.com. It was my official "you've got 12 months to go" newsletter. It was comprised of the things we need to be working on this month:

- Research vendors - Check!
- Finalize your budget - Budget? Whats a budget? Budget shmudget.
- Wedding style ideas - I think weve got this one down. This has been the most exciting part so far. (Besides the part where I get to call Ned my husband.)

Id say we are about right on track if not still ahead of the game. And Im just joking about the budget part. We don't really have one, but its all about being responsible and not going overboard. We know our limits, but that doesn't mean we aren't going to have one hell of a shindig.

Today Ill leave you the beautiful music of Josh Radin. Im sure there will be plenty of his songs played at our wedding. (Which is kinda funny because he made a bunch of jokes about weddings last night.)







- Gan

Poster contest!

Make sure to stop over at Diagnosis Deferred for your chance to win a 18x24" rolled poster print of your choice from LargeFormatPosters.com. "These posters are photo quality prints of any file you choose." How awesome is that? I can think of a million photos I would love to have blown up.

- Gan

Everyone loves a good party

Im so excited about our upcoming engagement party. The invites are already in the mail and Ive been working on decoration and food ideas. Unlike our wedding, our engagement party even has a theme! I wish I could post some of the ideas, but I don't want to ruin any surprises for our guests that happen to read this blog. Once guests start receiving the invites Ill at least be able to post those.

I think the main reason for all the excitement for me is that this will be the first time we are having an actual party at our new house. We bought our house in March and besides having family over for a bbqs, we haven't had a real party yet. This will be sort of a combined engagment party/housewarming party. A lot of our friends haven't even seen our new home yet.

I'm also very thrilled that Ned's father will be in town from California for our party. Well, he was already planning on coming to town to visit us, so we just scheduled the party during his trip. I think it's awesome that Ned will have someone from his family here. We spend a lot of time with my family since they live so close and I think sometimes he really misses his dad. We were out in California spending time with him in July and I could really see how close those two are.

In other news, I finally started uploading some photos from our trip to Austria. For now Ill leave you with a photo of me and Ned:


And a photo of me and my bridesmaid, Nadine, and our friend Nikki:


- Gan

You can never have too many bridesmaids

A couple years ago, a coworker told me that you can never have too many bridesmaids. For me, thats not so true. I once heard about a girl that had 18 bridesmaids! Wow. I wondered who was left to be an actual guest at the wedding. Maybe she has like 300 friends or something. Either way, thats way too many bridesmaids for me.

Ned and I are having a smallish wedding. 100 guests invited tops. I think maybe itll end up being 65 to 75 that actually make it. We definitely want a small wedding party. It would be strange to have half of our guests be in the actual wedding.

Choosing my bridal party wasnt that hard. I knew I wanted my three closest (American) girl friends to be bridesmaids, my 2 neices to be jr bridesmaids, my step daughter to be my flower girl, and to somehow have my closest guy friend be in the wedding, either on my side as my man of honor or on Ned's side as a groomsman. But I have to admit, I did feel bad. I have quite a few other girl friends I wanted to choose or that I felt obligated to choose.

My older sister really isnt into the whole bridesmaid thing so I only felt a little bad leaving her out. Shes just happy her daughters are in the wedding as it means a lot to them. I cant imagine not having those two beautiful girls in the wedding. But I have a couple other friends who are important to me that I want to be a part of my big day, but we just arent that close anymore. That doesnt mean that they arent important to me.

N., A. and S. are three amazing friends. I really do adore them. But we just arent as much a part of each others lives as we used to be. I dont think its necessarily a bad thing, its just what happens when people get busy in their own lives and live in different cities/states. Its hard to stay close. That doesnt mean we dont care about each other, weve just drifted apart a bit. I wish I could have them all be in my wedding, but I just dont think it would work.

There is one girl though that I feel terrible leaving out. She is someone that I adore so very much. I love her like family and I wish I could see her more often. She has been there so much for me and helped me through some very hard times. When Ned met her for the first time he said we were cut from the same stone. I just click with her like Ive known her my whole life. And thats why Ive decided to ask her to join my wedding party.

I initially didn't ask Nadine because she lives in Austria. We only get to see each other once a year or so. But having my wedding without her in it would just be wrong. I really need her by my side on that day. She is such an important part of my life and who I am. Since she will be at the wedding for sure, I need her to be a part of the wedding party. Shes flying in at least two weeks before the wedding to spend time with me and be a part of the activities and staying for a bit afterwards.

I haven't asked her yet, but Im very excited to. Im trying to decide between mailing her a card, calling her or asking her in person in November when I see her in Miami. Such a hard decision. I want to ask her in person because its much more sincere, but I also dont want to wait. I can be so impatient. I should have asked her a couple weeks ago when I was in Austria, but I didn't know until then that she was for sure coming to the wedding. I should have known she would be though since shes such a good friend.

My bridal party now consists of the four most lovely friends a girl could ever have. Im so happy to have these girls be a part of my life and a part of my big day.

Nadine:




- Gan

And the winners are....

These are my favorite of our engagement photos:

































- Gan

Totally worth the extra $200

We got our engagement photos back from Jenn Barnett yesterday and Im completely blown away. It was worth the extra money to hire another photographer so we could get these done. Im so happy with them. They express everything I was feeling that day, all the love Ned and I share. Here is a little teaser until I can get the rest posted here.



- Gan

(I hate how this layout crops photos.)

My Ned

Some months before Ned and I met, I posted a blog entry in my personal blog about how I only wanted to find my "Ned". I was referring to Lee Pace's character from the tv show Pushing Daisies and I posted the same clip that is posted at the bottom of this entry. The year before I had ended a long term relationship and dated casually after that, but was unsuccessful at finding that perfect someone. The one who I wanted to fall asleep next to at night. The one I wanted to wake up next to in the morning. The one I wanted to spend every day with for the rest of my life. I was starting to think I would never find my soulmate.

See, Im a very romantic, dreamy sorta gal. I do believe in soulmates. I believe in your lover/significant other also being your best friend. I believe in finding that one true love and spending the rest of your lives together. Call me old fashioned. Call me unrealistic. Call me silly. Whatever. Thats just who I am and Im not ashamed of it.

And then I met my darling Ned.



Ill admit it, it wasn't quite love at first sight. Not because I thought he was unattractive! In fact, I thought he was quite dreamy. As I like to call him, "tall, dark and handsome- without the tall." *smirk* But I wasn't really looking at that moment for a boyfriend. I was just trying to get out there and meet new people. He also had some "red flags" that threw me off. But right after our first date, I called my dad and told him all about it. I was smitten, I just didn't know it yet. Ned pursued me for the next few weeks and after our third date I knew. I knew I wanted to be with him. I knew I had finally found my Ned.

He was the one I was looking for. He was the one who could make me laugh no matter how sad or frustrated I was. He was the one who could make my heart melt with just one look. He was the one who was just as romantic and dreamy as I am. He was the one who made me feel complete. A lover and a best friend all rolled into one.



When we first started dating, I introduced him to the amazingness that was Pushing Daisies. Only the first season was out then and it was something we enjoyed watching together in the evenings while curled up on the couch. Thats when he started calling me "Chuck" as a petname. And also why, now, I refer to him as my "Ned". Because he is the one I was always looking for.



- Gan

Home sweet home

We got in from our lovely adventure to Europe last night. I feel rested and refreshed even though a majority of the time was spent hiking and exploring. Even a 1,400 stairs hike inside a mountain (700 up and 700 down)...and that was after hiking up the mountain itself! But we had a great trip and once again we saw how well we travel together.

I have not had time to really go through our photos yet, but trust me, we have some cute ones. I figured I should post a small entry about our to-do list for now. I think its growing, instead of shrinking, every day.

Things we have done
- Photographer booked
- First set of engagement photos shot
- Reception venue booked
- Photo booth booked
- My wedding party chosen and informed
- Ceremony location chosen
- Caterer chosen

Things that need to be finalized in the next few weeks
- Ceremony location booked
- Caterer booked
- His side of the wedding party
- Cake tastings
- Save the dates need to be finished & mailed
- Guest list (!!!)
- Wedding dress search continues
- Engagement party/housewarming party

We haven't even seen a teaser photo from our engagement shoot and Im getting a bit restless. I know its only been 2 weeks, but I was hoping to get at least one photo emailed to us while we were on vacation. Im excited, but also nervous to get them back. Just an email to let us know they turned out ok would have been nice! Im totally impatient. But Jenn is a great photographer so I have no need for doubts.

Hopefully tonight Ill get through some of our vacation photos. And maybe we can start tackling some of our other to-dos.

- Gan